Zverism

Cover image for the Zverism word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Zverism

n.
the wish that people could suspend their civility and indulge the physical side of each other first—sniffing each other’s hair like dogs, staring unabashedly at interesting faces, reveling in a beautiful voice like a song on the radio.

Lithuanian žvėris, wild beast + Latin vērissimus, the truest, the realest. Pronounced “zvair-iz-uhm.”

Merrenness

Cover image for the Merrenness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Hickering

Cover image for the Hickering word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Drisson

Cover image for the Drisson word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk